Crouching Pirate, Hidden Turtle
by Nroque18
Summary: To translate the writing on the map to El Dorado, Matt and his crew must seek out Cao Tzu, the wisest sage in MooShu. But first, they'll need to make a deal with Monkey King to get the five Turtle Balls, but can they trust him? The twelfth installment of Pirate Legacy.
1. Chapter 1: Journey to Subata

**Crouching Pirate, Hidden Turtle**

**Chapter One**

**Journey to Subata**

"What business brings you here?" Governor Umeboshi asked as I stood in the audience chamber of his palace in Hamamitsu. Ignoring the fact that his name meant "pickled plum," I explained to him what had happened in Khotan.

"So you say the Armada seeks to translate the markings upon a piece of Marco Pollo's map?" Governor Umeboshi asked, and I nodded as answered, "Yes, sir."

"To do so, they must consult the Scroll of Secrets, the only copy of which is held in the Library of Contemplation in Subata." Governor Umeboshi said. "In return for the aid you have given MooShu, I grant you free passage into Subata, so that you might pursue your foe."

"I suggest you speak with Lord Chagatai in Subata Temple. Tell him I sent you, and he will assist you in your quest." Governor Umeboshi said, and he handed me two imperial writs and flags bearing the crest of the Emperor that would allow the _Aquila _and the _Santo Oro _to sail freely in MooShu.

I stood up from my comfy cushion as I bowed deeply to the governor. "Thank you, sir, for all your help."

I returned to the _Santo Oro_, where I walked up the gangplank and below deck to the sickbay, where my trusted associates were still recovering from their battle with Rooke, general of the Armada, in Tso's fortress.

"Hoist the colors." I told one of the crewmen as I sat beside Rena's hammock, who nodded as he took one of the imperial flags from me.

Squeezing Rena's hand one last time, I went back up to the weather decks to take the helm and set sail west to Subata Skyway. The clouds beneath the hull of the _Santo Oro_ were the color of cherry blossom petals as we sailed towards Subata Temple.

A while later, we dropped anchor at the pier outside the temple grounds, and as I stepped through the gates, I noticed a Bull wearing robes praying at a small shrine dedicated to the Moodha.

The Bull must've heard my footsteps, because as he ended his prayer, he stood up to turn and face me. "You are not from MooShu, pirate. What do you seek in Subata?"


	2. Chapter 2: Serenity Now

"The skyways of MooShu are polluted with the ships of outsiders. Foreign intervention has brought calamity and woe to this realm!" Lord Chagatai said as we stood in front of the shrine, facing the smile of the Moodha statue. "I will not help you until you prove to me that your interests and those of MooShu are one and the same!"

"The greatest threat to Subata is the Amber Horde, ruthless Horse bandits, pirates, and mercenaries led by a barbarian named Hunan. Strike out at the ships of the Amber Horde and restore order to Subata, and I will listen to your requests."

"Very well then. I'll be about it." I promised as I turned to leave for the _Santo Oro_. We sailed out into the skyway to find the ships of the Amber Horde, crewed by Horse barbarians like Subodai of Rena's crew. While the Amber Horde had crossbows that could fire farther than our muskets, they paled in comparison to the power of the _Santo Oro_'s great guns.

As the largest of the Amber Horde ships sailed away, the lookout perched on and gripping the shroud on the starboard bulwark shouted, "She's nailed her colors to the mast, Cap'n!"

That meant that surrender was not an option for the Amber Horde barbarians aboard that ship, and I shouted, "We take her a prize, men!"

Even with a wooden deck between us, I heard the roar of approval from the men, and on my mark, they delivered a broadside to the port side of the Amber Horde ship. Even so, they managed to limp away a few hundred feet before the shrouds supporting their mainmast snapped, and the giant wooden pole fell onto the deck of the ship. "We've got them over a barrel, men! Prepare to board!"

"All hands on deck!" I shouted as I heaved on the pilot's wheel, and the men emerged from the hatchways armed with cutlasses, muskets, boarding pikes, pistols, rifles, and tomahawks.

"Grappling hooks away!" The men on the shrouds shouted as they threw them onto the bulwarks of the enemy ship to reel her in, and as the boarding party leapt onto the decks of the enemy, both ships were soon shrouded in smoke, impairing the vision of the Horse barbarians armed with crossbows.

The battle was actually kind of disappointing, as the Horse barbarians could barely stand, and we soon had the survivors tied to the masts with the lines from the shrouds. As my gaze ran over the prisoners, Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned to see that it was Sarah Steele. "There's something queer in the hold that I think you should see, sir."

I nodded as I gestured for her to lead the way down to the hold, where Subodai and Milo Graytail were standing near a wooden crate. I peered inside to see a black egg with the texture of fine porcelain.

"No wonder the barbarians were so intent on fighting..." I murmured as I stroked the egg. Closer inspection of the hold revealed that the ship was low on food and water, apparently unsuccessful in raiding, and that the enemy had been starving for a week, hence their reduced combat capabilities. "Get this egg aboard the _Santo Oro_ right away and show it to Nikolai in the sickbay."

A few minutes later after we had set sail back to Subata Temple, Nikolai bent down to examine the egg in the sickbay, and he gently rapped on the eggshell. "Hmm... It's definitely a dragon egg... And it's hardened quite a bit already..."

"What does that mean?" I asked, and Nikolai answered excitedly as he stood up, "It means that this Celestial dragon egg is going to hatch soon! Oh Matt, what a prize!"

That night, as I was sleeping in Rena's quarters, I heard a piercing whistle of the boatswain, and I practically fell out of bed as I scrambled to throw off the covers. "W-What's going on!?"

"The egg is hatching!" Nikolai shouted as he bust the door open, silver boatswain's whistle in hand. "Don't just sit there gawking at me! Come on, you're burning moonlight!"

Practically dragging me there, Nikolai took me to the egg sitting on the quarterdeck, rocking as it trembled, until finally, a dark, vaguely-triangular head poked its way out from the eggshell, bright blue eyes with dark slits for pupils staring into my own.

The dragon was thin and long like a black snake with legs, about the size of my arm, with two black frills to the side of its head and two tendrils to the sides of its upper lip. Its eyes had a certain intelligence.

Caught up in my awe of the creature, Nikolai elbowed me, and I suddenly remembered what I had learned from the book Nikolai had given me, a book by the naturalist, Sir Edward Howe of the Royal Society. "H-hello there, m-my name is Matthew Exeter. And yours?"

The small dragon gave what could only be called a shrug as it crawled out of the egg, shaking off bits of eggshell and slime onto the planking as it went, and it said in a definitely male voice, "I do not have a name."

"May I give you one, then?" I asked politely, and the dragon shrugged again as he looked at me with those blue eyes. "If you please."

Uh oh, I didn't think this far ahead. I totally blanked until a name popped up in my head, and I blurted out, "Temeraire! Your name will be Temeraire!"

Nikolai raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as the dragon nodded slowly. "Temeraire. Yes, that is my name. Do you have any meat? I am very hungry."

"Uh, yes! Somebody get some meat from the galley!" I said, and Nikolai ran for the kitchen. After Temeraire had eaten, I wiped off the bits of meat and eggshell and slime from his body with a spare blanket, and he was now sleeping soundly near the footboard of Rena's bed. I smiled as I stroke his triangular head, and then I curled up against his warm body as well, blanket covering me as I went to sleep.

"Very well. I was reluctant to set another foreign vessel loose in Subata Skyway, but you have proven your loyalty." Lord Chagatai said as we stood near the Moodha shrine. Temeraire had insisted on coming with me, and he now was draped over my neck like a scaly scarf. If Lord Chagatai was bothered by his presence, he didn't show it.

"You may now travel throughout Subata, with my leave. My ships will not fire upon you... so long as they are not provoked." Lord Chagatai continued, looking at me very pointedly, and I nodded. "You have come seeking access to the Scroll of Secrets. I grant you passage to the Library of Contemplation, to seek it out. Librarian Quan-shi is the master there, and you must speak to him if you wish to learn how to find what you seek."

I bowed low to Lord Chagatai, and Temeraire nodded, the dragon's version of the gesture, and we both said humbly, "Thank you, Lord Chagatai."

We walked slowly to the library, because Temeraire kept asking me to stop every few paces so he could look at everything around us, but we managed to get there within due time. The Library of Contemplation was built in a round shape, with bookshelves hidden behind clear waterfalls that emptied into a running stream surrounding a central platform with bridges to the outer rim.

_Rena would've loved this place... _I thought, and as I turned around, I was fact to face with the tip of a Goat monk's wooden staff, and he growled, "There is no more for you to take!"

"Wait, wait - I'm sorry!" I pleaded as Temeraire growled at the Goat monk, who was already backing down on his own accord. "Oh... you are not one of them? My apologies. I mistook you for a pirate of the Amber Horde."

"Apology accepted, sir. I _am _a pirate, but not of the Amber Horde." I said as I returned his bow. "I'm looking for the Scroll of Secrets."

"You are out of luck. It was here, but was taken. Your only hope is Shunzang the Wise." The Goat monk, probably the librarian Quan-shi said.

"Who is he?" I asked, and the Goat monk scratched behind his head as he struggled to answer. "Well, he's wise, obviously... and... just ask him the rest! He's in the Temple of Eternal Serenity! Atop the great hill!"

I awkwardly thanked him as Temeraire and I left for the Temple of Eternal Serenity atop the hill overlooking the library. The temple was built similarly to the library, but with no bookshelves, and a Crane wearing a bamboo hat in the shape of a flat cone stood on one leg in the center of the temple, his eyes closed. He wore golden robes with a green sash across his chest, and as I was about to speak, he held up a hand to stop me.

"Say nothing! No secrets are hidden from Shunzang the Wise! I can see that you are a pirate, and you are on a quest... a quest for... a missing piece of Marco Pollo's map! But it was denied you, no? So now you are here for the Scroll of Secrets!"

I nodded as I held out the pieces of Marco Pollo's map, but Shunzang the Wise shook his head as he looked at them. "I cannot translate the markings on the pieces of the map you possess, for they are Caoist sorcery, and I am a Moodhist mystic! Knowing this, you are undoubtedly lost and do not know what to do. But I will tell you, because I am Shunzang the Wise! Listen!"

I slowly sat down cross-legged on the floor as I leaned against Temeraire curled around me, and Shunzang the Wise began to speak. "When the mountains were but hills and the skies were still young, there was a sage even wiser than I: Cao Tzu! Father of Caoism!"

"Cao Tzu wrote the Scroll of Secrets, full of ancient wisdom. When Marco Pollo came to MooShu, he studied the scroll, and used it to make his map! Cao Tzu dwells upon the Celestial Shrine, which sits upon the back of Maruzame, the great turtle that swims the skies of the higher worlds!"

"The great turtle can only be summoned to this realm by throwing five Turtle Balls into the Eye of Harmony... no small task! I, Shunzang, once visited the Celestial Shrine. With me were four heroes: Monkey King, Pigsy, Friar Sand, and Dragon Prince.

"These mighty heroes helped me on my journey to the west wen I discovered the teachings of the Moodha and brought them back to MooShu. Each of these heroes carries one Turtle Ball. The last was entrusted to me."

"When our great quest was done, the Celestial Ministers sent the heroes to watch the four Temples of the Winds. They are still guarding them. Well, all but Monkey King, who got in some trouble and forced the ministers to drop a mountain on him. If you can get those four Turtle Balls back, I will help you find the the fifth!"

**A/N: Yes, Temeraire is a big shout out to the series of the same name by Naomi Novik. If you haven't read it, read it!**


	3. Chapter 3: Monkey Business

"Last I heard, Monkey King was trapped in a cavern under Sacred Mountain, only accessible through the Temple of the South Wind." Shunzang the Wise said as we stood inside the Temple of Eternal Serenity. "He should be so relieved to have someone to talk to that he will surrender his Turtle Ball without any fuss! Do not free him unless you must. I mean it."

Shunzang the Wise then brought out a sealed scroll from the sleeve of his green and gold robes and handed it to me. "Before you go, let me give you this sealed scroll. Read it only if you set Monkey King free, and only after! No sooner!"

Sliding the scroll behind my sash next to the scabbard of my black cutlass, I bowed low before turning to leave for the _Santo Oro_. The Temple of the South Wind was obviously in the south of Subata, and a few hours later, we had dropped anchor at the pier outside of the temple.

Ordering the men to stay aboard the _Santo Oro_, I walked with Temeraire on my shoulders into the temple compound, when Temeraire suddenly lifted his head up and sniffed the air. "Someone's here!"

No sooner than Temeraire had said it, a burst of electricity struck the ground near my feet, and I immediately leapt out of the way behind a nearby barrel. Drawing my pistol from my sash, I fired it in the direction of my attacker, and I saw a flicker of movement as she dodged it.

Hurrying to reload, I fired again at another flicker of movement, missing the shot, and missed a third time. By the time I finished reloading for the third time, I aimed it behind myself without looking, before Temeraire could warn me. "Not bad, Emma."

The cocky female musketeer grinned at me as she ate the Pocky stick hanging from her mouth like a toothpick, and she was wearing a magenta kimono with cherry blossom designs. "Not bad yourself, Exeter. So what're you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." I shot back, and Emma chuckled. "Fair enough. I'm actually on vacation from pirating in Skull Island to get more Pocky. And you?"

"I'm here to see Monkey King with Temeraire here." I answered as I gestured to the black dragon on my shoulders, and Emma nodded as she began reloading her new sniper rifle. "So where's your girlfriend? Y'know, the blonde one?"

I sighed as I shook my head. "We're not involved romantically, and she's still recovering from a battle with the Clockworks."

"So I guess she's not so tough after all." Emma said, and I answered coldly, "You'd be lying in a hammock in the sickbay too if you had to fight Rooke."

Emma looked up at that as she finished reloading. "And she survived? I take back what I said before."

To make up with me even further, she offered me a stick (but only one) of chocolate Pocky, and to come with me. Since all of my companions were out of commission, I accepted the backup, and we walked up the trail to the cavern inside the Sacred Mountain.

Lighting paper lanterns sitting outside the mouth of the cave, Emma and I went inside, and I explained to her why I was here as we went deeper into the cave.

Some time later, he lights of our candles inside the lanterns then illuminated a black cage that looked like it was built from slivers of midnight, with a Monkey, different from the Monquistans, was sitting inside, wearing the robes of a martial arts student.

"Have you come to set me free?" The Monkey, presumably the one we're looking for asked excitedly. As I slowly nodded, he rubbed his hands together in satisfaction. "Excellent! I've learned my lesson and am sorry for what I did and I'm quite bored now."

"We need your Turtle Ball." Emma said bluntly, and Monkey King said with mock indignity, "You want to leave me here, trapped in a cage, while you run away with my precious Turtle Ball? How inconsiderate! Let's make a deal: I'll happily surrender my Turtle Ball if you get me out of this cage. How does that sound?"


	4. Chapter 4: A Glimpse of Hattori

Hesitating for a moment, I looked at Emma, who nodded. "Very well then, we accept. Now how do we get you out of here?"

"The cage key is in the keeping of Hattori Hamzo, the renowned sword-smith. His forge is on the slopes of the Sacred Mountain." Monkey King said. "Do not face him in open combat! Hamzo's blades are without equal... if Death should face a Hamzo blade, Death himself will be cut. Your best bet is to take him unawares. Sneak into his shop, come up behind him, and bam! Knock him out cold."

"Sounds easy enough." Emma said, and I nodded. "And it'll be a lot quicker than if we had to, say, get moon pollen from the skyway."

Monkey King nodded, and we soon were on our way to the forge of Hattori Hamzo. The plan was simple. I would knock on the door and have Hattori Hanzo step outside, where Emma could shoot him from her sniper's nest on the ridge overlooking the forge.

With Emma in position, I knocked on the door of Hattori Hamzo, and a Pig wearing a white _gi _with a headband and katana stepped outside the door. "Yes?"

There was a gunshot, and in the time it took for me to blink, Hattori Hamzo had his sword drawn, and he had actually sliced the burst of electricity in midair. "Whoa, how did you do that!? Without electrocuting yourself!?"

"Get down from there!" Hattori Hamzo shouted in Emma's direction, and a minute later, she was at the door of his home, wearing a rock-colored camouflage cloak with the hood down and looking sheepishly. "Oh, did you think I would not see through your little scheme? Did you think that you are the first the Monkey King has sent? Tell the Monkey King that there will be no clever escape this time. He must serve his full sentence: ten thousand years!"

To prove his point, Hattori Hamzo drew a _wakizashi _from behind him and swiped the air twice in front of us. A second later, there was a ripping sound, and the fronts of our robes at our stomachs were slashed cleanly through. Needing no further encouragement, we raced back to Monkey King, where we explained to him the situation.

"What!? There is no key? This is an outrage!" Monkey King shouted, and I thought to myself, _Looks like failure was the only option for this quest. I wonder what Monkey King will have us do to get him out in the next chapter..._


	5. Chapter 5: A Dragon And His Gold

Monkey King paced around inside his cage, muttering loudly. "If there's no way to open the lock, then I must bash the bars apart! If only I had my golden staff... that would do it! It was taken from me by the Dragon King, long ago when they put me in here. He can't still be mad, can he?"

Then turning towards us, Monkey King said, "If you can fetch me back my golden staff, and help me get out of this cage, I'll get you your Turtle Ball and help you out!"

"Sounds fair. Where can we find the Dragon King?" I asked, and the Monkey King answered, "The Dragon King's realm is at the bottom of the Lake of the Rising Sun, to the north of here. Just jump in and swim... you'll find it! Tell him you want the Challenge."

"What kind of challenge is it?" Emma asked suspiciously, but Monkey King waved us away. Since Emma had been traveling by chartered sloop before meeting me, she dismissed the captain so she could sail with us aboard the _Santo Oro_.

A few hours later, we dropped anchor at the docks. Nikolai had asked to come with us, saying that all his patients needed now was rest, and that he would leave their care in the hands of Subodai, Sarah Steele, and Milo Graytail. In his own words, "you'd probably need a little magic on your side."

Anyway, the ravaged valley leading to the lake looked like a war zone, with burnt buildings and fallen trees in our path, and I heard Nikolai whisper, "I feel like I'm looking at Hiroshima..."

"Look at these." Emma said as she pointed to the ground, and we looked to see hoof prints in the dirt. "Horse barbarians from the Amber Horde... And look at the crossbow bolts embedded in the walls. They must have some power to get that deep."

To lighten the mood, I asked the little black dragon perched on my shoulder, "Are you excited about meeting the Dragon King, Temeraire?"

Temeraire perked up as he nodded his vaguely triangular head eagerly, his bright blue eyes shining. "Oh, yes. I would like to ask him many things about the sun, the moon, the stars..."

I laughed as I scratched his head. "Well, you're certainly the most interesting newborn I've ever met. None of them can speak as soon as they were born, so it makes things rather difficult for those who take care of them."

Temeraire blinked as he looked at us with more interest. "You mean you don't hatch out of eggs? But then how do you-"

"Come on, we'd better hurry." I said quickly, cutting him off. Our pace quickened, and we reached the Lake of the Rising Sun in no time at all, where Nikolai cupped some of the deep blue water into his hands to peer at it more closely. "These are magical waters. We'll be able to breathe freely once we get inside the water, but we should be careful."

Nikolai and I stripped down to our trousers while Emma went off to change into a two-piece swimsuit the color of cherry blossoms in bloom. Arming ourselves with harpoons, we dove into the lake, where I could hear Emma clearly as she said, "The entrance to the Dragon King's court must be somewhere nearby."

We nodded, but as it turned out, the Dragon King's forces found us first. Blue Elephant _oni_ armed with curved swords and giant koi fish burst out from the tall kelp growing around us, and they attacked us with full force.

A glowing magic circle appeared in front of Nikolai, and a storm shark emerged from the opposite side, scattering the giant koi as it chased after them with rows of sharp teeth. Temeraire hissed as a blue _oni_ raised his sword, and he soon found dragon claws digging into his trunk as Temeraire scrambled towards his face.

Emma and I took on an _oni_ together, and as he swiped at me, Emma slammed the butt of her harpoon into his helmet, knocking him out but breaking her harpoon into two, and more _oni_ seized us and Nikolai by the arms. Temeraire hissed at the _oni_ gripping his slender body with one hand, and the oni glared at him as he rubbed his badly-scratched trunk.

Outnumbered and out of our element, not to mention that our weapons were all snapped in two, the _oni _took us to an underwater palace that was presumably the Dragon King's, and I thought, _"Huh. I thought it'd be covered in barnacles and kelp, but it's actually very nice."_

The doors open to admit the _oni _inside, and they took us to the audience chamber, where a green dragon like Temeraire was coiled on the seat of a golden throne, and he rose like a cobra preparing to strike as the we were brought forth. He wore golden jewelry embedded with rubies, and he stroke the two tendrils on his upper lip as the leader of the _oni _whispered his report into his ear, and his amber eyes flashed with anger.

"Who are you to come into my kingdom and do violence upon my people? I detect the Monkey king's hand in this... He sent you, did he not?" Dragon King asked angrily as he swam towards us, and I slowly nodded as we stood eye-to-eye, blue eyes meeting amber. "We are here to take the Challenge, Your Majesty."

"The Challenge? I knew it! You have come seeking the golden staff, wrought from one of the pillars of this very hall. I suspected as much." Dragon King said, and I looked to see that the pillars were made of gold, with golden dragons coiled around them. One side had a single pillar more than the other, and I suspected that the missing pillar was Monkey King's staff.

"Distasteful as it is, I am honor-bound to allow you to take the Challenge: any who return my jade egg will gain one wish from me." Dragon King said. "My jade egg was stolen by the Monkey King! He hid it in the Valley of the Titans, in Khotan Skyway. If you want the staff, bring me my egg, and wish for it!"

Dragon King's amber eyes softened slightly as they landed on Temeraire, and he said, "The young Celestial may stay here to learn from me, but the rest of you must go."

Temeraire looked both excited and apprehensive as he was let go, and he turned to look at me with worried eyes. I smiled reassuringly at him. "Don't worry about us. We can take care of ourselves, and I can see how much you want this."

Temeraire nodded eagerly as he swam quickly towards me to coil around my neck in a hug, and he swam off to join Dragon King at the foot of his throne. Letting go of us, the _oni _escorted us back up to the surface, where we dried ourselves and walked back to the Santo Oro to set sail for the Valley of the Titans in Khotan Skyway, near Sujimura Village.

Dropping anchor at the docks outside of Sujimura Village, we walked to the gate leading to the Valley of the Titans, where we began our search for the jade egg, and Emma said, "The temple is the best place to start. Let's look for the gates and see if we can get inside."

"Wait, what was that?" Nikolai asked, perking up, and without waiting for an answer, he grabbed us to drag us behind some bamboo, as little men with long noses and red skin wearing lacquered armor passed by, armed with an assortment of MooShu weaponry. "Tengu goblins!"

We waited until the Tengu passed by, and sticking to the bamboo as we walked on, we soon found the wooden gates leading to the temple, where a gray Goose wearing a white _gi _stood outside, armed with a _naginata _and a sheathed katana. "Greetings, honorable visitors from a far-off land. Could you perhaps make a charitable donation to the Order of the White Lotus?"


	6. Chapter 6: Go Go Stormzilla

"The Order of the White Lotus? Are you guys pai sho players?" Nikolai asked, and the Goose thought for a moment. "Well, many of members do play... But that's not the point right now. I am Spare Chang, an auxiliary member of the Order of the White Lotus, an order of monks devoted to studying the mysteries of the Titans."

"Tengu goblins have invaded the Valley of the Titans, and they called forth the greatest threat to all... Stormzilla!" Spare Chang said, and he pointed as the earth shook beneath our wooden MooShu sandals. We turned to see a two-legged purple dragon-like creature as tall as the masts of a first-rate ship-of-the-line stomping through the grounds behind the gate to the temple, with lightning bolt-shaped horns and ridges on its back.

The Stormzilla's yellow eyes didn't seem to notice us as it passed by, and Spare Chang continued speaking. "Due to the Tengu and the giant monster, we can no longer access the temple. But perhaps there is a way... My order has sought refuge in a cave not far from here. I will take you there to speak to Master Li Hark."

He then broke into a quick jog, and we followed him through winding trails through the bamboo forests until we reached the mouth of a cave, where several monks dressed similarly to Spare Chang were standing guard outside. They nodded at him as we approached, and let us through, where a Crane wearing a bamboo hat was meditating on one leg inside the cave.

Spare Chang bowed low to the Crane, and Master Li Hark opened his eyes. As Spare Chang turned to leave, I slipped a gold coin into his hand as a charitable donation to the White Lotus, and then his master spoke. "We are the Order of the White Lotus. History has shown again and again how nature points out the folly of mortals, and we are living in such a lesson."

"Our studies were disrupted by the Tengu, who brought with them the Scourge of Cities: Stormzilla! There is but one response to such a threat... In our most ancient scrolls, it is written that strangers will come and pilot Stupendor-X, wondrous vessel of the Titans forged in Shangri-La, to victory! You, young pirates and wizard, are those prophesied ones!"

"Great, another prophecy." I heard Nikolai mutter. "This is exactly why I left Wizard City to open up a general store in Skull Island. Though I suppose it can't be helped..."

"Go to Stupendor-X, take control of it, and rid the Valley of the Titans of Stormzilla!" Master Li Hark said, and with that, Spare Chang returned to take us through a secret passage to the cave of Stupendor-X, in the Valley of the Titans. The cave reminded me of a shipyard, except that instead of a vessel, it housed a giant suit of armor made of red and gold metal. Nikolai squealed as he saw it. "It's a _GUNDAM_!"

The rest of us gave him funny looks with raised eyebrows, and Nikolai shrugged. "You'd have to be an otaku to understand."

"Just to be sure... we're going inside a huge suit of armor to fight a giant electric lizard?" Emma asked, and we all nodded. "Heh heh heh... I _did not _sign on for this!"

"Let's take this monster down a notch! Who wants to live forever?" Nikolai asked, and he led the walk to Stupendor-X, where we could see a metallic hatch on its chest. "That must be the entrance to the cockpit."

Handing his staff to Spare Chang, Nikolai tried to pull the hatch open, but it wouldn't budge. Emma went over to help him, but it still didn't budge. Finally, I went to go help them pull up on the bar, and it finally opened to reveal the cockpit.

Two black leather seats were on the sides of the door, and a central one was surrounded by buttons and small metal columns I couldn't make heads or tails of, but Nikolai seemed to know what he was doing as he sat in the center seat and fastened a buckle on a belt attached to it. "Safety first!"

Buckling up on the remaining two seats, Emma and I braced ourselves as Nikolai pressed a button to close the door, and he gripped the columns at his sides. The metal wall in front of us then blinked to life, revealing an image of Spare Chang standing in awe of Stupendor-X on the wooden catwalk in front of us. The vision then jerked a bit to the left, and Spare Chang hurried out of the way as we began moving forward towards the stone.

We then saw Stupendor-X's metallic foot, and a second later, a shelf on the mountain outside was kicked down to make way for Stupendor-X as it walked out to engage Stormzilla. The giant electric lizard roared as we approached it, and bolts of lightning burst forth from its mouth to strike Stupendor-X in the chest.

I was tilted to my side as Stupendor-X stumbled backwards, but Nikolai slammed a button, and a laser beam from Stupendor-X chest struck Stormzilla, who roared in pain as Stupendor-X drew its katana. Nikolai put on his game face as he gripped the controls. "Alright, big boy. Let's dance!"

He then issued orders to us. "Emma, Matt, pull down the boards above you. I think they control the extra weapons."

We did as we were told, and my screen lit up to depict an outline of Stupendor-X with the shoulders and shins in red, along with the words, "Missiles activated."

I grinned as the screen came up with instructions on how to use the system: just tap where you want to aim in Stupendor-X's vision, and a missile from each of the four launchers on the body would fire, and Nikolai spoke. "Save the weapons for when I tell you to. We're going to need them."

As Stormzilla lunged at us with sharp teeth, Nikolai shouted at Emma, and she tapped on her board to fire a laser from Stupendor-X's empty left hand, and Stormzilla was sent reeling backwards as Nikolai shouted, "Missiles!"

I tapped three times quickly on my screen, and twelves missiles launched themselves at three points on Stormzilla's body. As it roared in pain, Stupendor-X lunged forward with his katana, spearing it in the gut, and a second later, the pommel of the katana started blinking red more and more rapidly until the katana exploded, embedding bits of the blade into Stormzilla's body like shrapnel.

Stormzilla was far from finished though, and as more lightning burst from its mouth, Stupendor-X seized it by the throat to strangle it as lasers and missiles struck the giant electric lizard. After a tense minute of struggling, the Stormzilla suddenly turned into purple smoke, and Nikolai breathed a sigh of relief. "It's over... We did it!"

The cheer died in our throats as we felt Stupendor-X's knees buckle from underneath us, and a few seconds later, we were tumbling down, unsupported by the legs until we hit the ground. Good thing we wore our seat belts!

We climbed out of the cockpit in a daze, and Nikolai patted the scorched metal of the cockpit as he said sadly, "I guess that last attack from Stormzilla must've finished poor Stupendor-X off..."

"Look!" Emma said, and we turned to see Tengu goblins coming out of the wreckage in the same daze we had, and as she brought out her sniper rifle, Nikolai shook his head as he stopped her, "Leave them. They won't bother us. Let's find that egg."

We began searching the temple grounds, which aside from the few toppled buildings, were in surprisingly good condition despite the two colossal combatants fighting on it moments earlier. In front of a golden statue of the Moodha underneath the roof of a pavilion was an egg that looked like it was made of green precious stone. "The Jade Egg..."

Nikolai knelt down to pick it up, but he suddenly stopped to press his ear against the porcelain texture of the shell. "Dragon King didn't tell us everything. This egg... it's alive!"


	7. Chapter 7: Inevitable Betrayal

"You have answered my challenge and restored that which is most precious to me. I honor our bargain... here is the golden staff." Dragon King said. He held out the golden staff in his claws, and it was quite heavy as I took it from him. Monkey King must've had some strength if he could wield this.

"A bit of history first. I made this staff long ago, to control both sea and sky. Monkey King tricked it away from me. You will no doubt return it to him - a course of action I advise against. He is nothing but trouble."

I nodded as I bowed low, holding the golden staff behind me. "Thank you for the advice, but we really need his help. If you'll excuse us, we'll be going now. Will Temeraire be coming with us?"

"Oh yes!" The little black dragon said, nodding eagerly with a silver breastplate inlayed with blue sapphires on his chest. Bowing low to Dragon King, he said, "Thank you for everything you have taught me, but now I must go."

Dragon King nodded, and with that, we went back up to the surface of the lake, the setting sun turning it into the color of orange juice. We passed through the ravaged valley to the _Santo Oro_ to set sail for the Temple of the South Wind, where Monkey King was being held.

Entering a cavern, we soon found Monkey King inside his cage, where his eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of his staff in my hands. "My golden staff! Give that to me!"

Slipping it through the bars of the black cage, Monkey King thrusted forward to break the golden lock on the door to the cage. "Freedom! Good job! You're quite the heroes, yes? Well, I must be going."

"Hold it right there! What about your Turtle Ball?" I asked, drawing my sword and putting its blade into Monkey King's path, and he nodded as he pointed with his staff. "Of course! I'll be happy to give it to you - I rolled it into that cave, over there. Follow me inside."

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Emma said quietly to me, and I nodded. "Get your weapons ready, then."

Loading my two flintlock pistols behind my back, we entered the side chamber of the cavern, walking slowly towards the center of the cave. Suddenly, Monkey King turned around and formed his index and middle fingers into a cross. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

In puffs of smoke, four exact lookalikes of Monkey King appeared behind him, all armed with golden staffs. "Did you really think I would surrender my Turtle Ball to someone as gullible as you? Good luck against my doppelgängers!"

Monkey King then threw a smoke bomb on the ground, disappearing as his shadow clones attacked. Firing my two pistols, I made two shadow clones dissipate in a cloud of smoke, and Emma took out another, but Nikolai took the cake for coolest attack.

"Hybrid Spell: Wraith." Nikolai said dangerously, and a glowing black magic circle appeared around him. As his clothes turned black, his cloak's hood came up by itself, shadowing the upper half of his face as a curved blade appeared at the top of his staff like scythe. Finally, raven wings spread from his back, and he leapt for a shadow clone, slicing it in half with his new scythe. "Sorry, but the fact is, I'm a genius!"

Spinning his scythe, the changes reversed until he looked like his usual self. "Like my hybrid spell? With my reserves of mana, I can only hold a form for five minutes, but I'm working on making them more efficient."

"A show of hands, please! Who saw that coming?" Emma asked, raising her hand. "Let's see what Shunzang the _Wise_ had to say in his sealed scroll. He should have seen that coming!"

I brought out the scroll from my _obi _sash and opened it to be read aloud. _"If you are reading this, Monkey King has betrayed you. Return to the Temple of Eternal Serenity at once. Shunzang."_

"Oh, he is good." Nikolai remarked, impressed. "Let's set sail for Subata as soon as possible."

Awhile later, we stood in the Temple of Eternal Serenity, where we spoke with Shunzang the Wise. "I could not have warned you of Monkey King's treachery - had you suspected him, he never would have cooperated. My hope was that he had reformed, but apparently, he is unchanged."


	8. Chapter 8: Journey Into Shadow

"There is one way to control Monkey King. I was loathe to use it, but he has given us little choice... the Crown of Command." Shunzang the Wise said. "You must travel to the Shadow Fortress and put the Crown of Command into Monkey King's golden helmet. Conceal it well!"

"When he reclaims his armor, and do not think any force can stop him from doing so, Monkey King will be ours to control! To get to the armor, you must defeat Kirigi, lord of the Shadow Fortress, a powerful and terrifying ninja pig. I will alert your loved ones."

"Gee, that's real encouraging." Emma deadpanned, and I chuckled softly as I turned to leave for the _Santo Oro_. It was midnight by the time we dropped anchor at the Shadow Fortress northwest of Subata, and using a grappling hook, we climbed over the walls only to find...

"Ninjas again... Why couldn't another wizard have the armor?" Nikolai asked with a sigh. The ninja pigs said nothing as they leapt to attack us with ninjato, their short swords. Three gunshots and a loud THWACK later, all of them were lying on the ground unconscious.

"Are ninja pigs weaker in numbers? I feel I could defeat hundreds, but fear facing one alone!" I asked, and Nikolai explained. "It's the Conservation of Ninjutsu. In any given fight, there's only so much power available to each side, so as a result, one ninja's a deadly threat, but an army of them? Cannon fodder. And look, there's a cave!"

As we entered the cave, crystals on the walls began to glow, lighting up the path to a chasm, which was too far apart for us to leap across. Suddenly, Emma perked up. "Wait, did you hear that?"

Many ninja pigs then dropped down from the ceiling to throw shuriken at us, and as we ducked, Nikolai took out a piece of chalk to draw a magic circle on the ground that crackled with blue electricity as he touched it. Suddenly, the ninja pigs were thrown off their feet as small pillars of earth quickly rose beneath their feet, and Nikolai shouted, "Come on!"

Dashing out of the cave as quickly as we could, we raced to the upper courtyard, where more ninjas awaited us, and some of their shurikens managed to tear through our clothing before we slammed the butts of our weapons into their guts.

We burst through the doors to find a ninja pig, most likely Kirigi, wearing silver armor while meditating on a cushion. He picked up the ninjato lying at his side, and stood to face us, or rather, just me as Emma and Nikolai backed away. "Y-you guys are leaving me!?"

"It is _one _ninja pig, Matt. We wouldn't want to split up the power. And besides, who's going to play the awesome boss battle music?" Nikolai said, and then he turned to Kirigi. "If that's alright with you?"

Kirigi nodded, and Nikolai grinned, tapping his staff on the ground to summon two speakers (not that I have any idea what they were called, obviously) that landed with heavy thumps on the wooden floor as a dance rock type of song came on.

Kirigi then lunged at me with his sword, and I was barely able to bring up my sword in time to block it. Blunting my sword with blue energy, it left a glowing blue arc in its path as I swung it, but Kirigi managed to block it.

We went on like that for what must've been a full five minutes before we heard a gunshot, and Kirigi fell to the floor, Emma with a smoking sniper rifle behind him. "When you watch guys duke it out with swords for awhile, you tend to get a sense of deja vu."

"Thanks." I said as I sheathed my cutlass. "Kirigi was a lot tougher than his henchmen, though. I doubt I could've beaten him without your help."

"You can thank me later. We have to find Monkey King's golden armor!" Emma said as she began searching Kirigi's body, and I nodded as Nikolai said, "If I know anything about secret hideouts, there will be a secret door somewhere nearby... maybe underneath that statue?"

All three of us began pushing the base of the stone ninja pig statue, and we soon uncovered a sturdy trapdoor made of ironwood. It was locked, so Nikolai waved his staff, and a second later, the two speakers crashed through with their weight.

"Ah ha! I bet this leads straight to the treasure vault... where the golden armor's kept!" Emma said with a grin. She led the climb down to the treasure vault, where her eyes reflected the gleam of the coins on the floor as the uncertain light of the lanterns shone on them.

"Look at all this gold! It'd be enough to wreck several economies!" Nikolai exclaimed, and I frowned as I gazed at it. "It's blood money - wages taken for killing people. Oh well, fill your pockets with everything but the coins so their value goes up when we reach port!"

After having filled our pockets with trinkets, Emma handed me the Crown of Command, a simple golden band that fit snugly inside the helmet. "Now Monkey King won't be able to notice the Crown of Command, but will it really control him?"

Emma put a hand on my shoulder. "Even if it doesn't, I'm sure we can take him on. Let's get back to Subata."

"Excellent! You are right on time." Shunzang said as we returned to the Temple of Eternal Serenity in Subata. "Let me teach you the phrase that activates the Crown of Command. The words will make the crown constrict, squeezing Monkey King's head and forcing him to submit. Unfortunate, but sadly necessary. These are the words: _Sun Wukong_."

_"Sun Wukong." _I repeated, and then Monkey King burst through the door of the temple."What's this? We were friends, Shunzang, and now you conspire against me? Oh well... time to put these pirates out of my misery!"

"Monkey King, you disappoint me. The Crown of Command prevents you from harming this pirate." Shunzang said calmly as he gestured to me, and Monkey King blinked in surprise. "The crown? I'm not putting that thing on!"

"Too late, monkey boy. Take off your helmet." Nikolai said, and he grinned as Monkey King gawked at the crown on his head. "How do you like them apples?"

"What? Well, I may not be able to hurt _him, _but what about this little boy?" Monkey King growled as he put on his helmet, and as he pointed his staff at an unconcerned Nikolai, Shunzang said quickly to me, "Say the words!"

_"Sun Wukong!" _I said in my best captain's voice, and Monkey King clutched at his head, dropping his staff in the process."Ow! Stop it - stop it! Oh, that hurts! Alright, alright! I surrender! I'll do whatever you say!"


	9. Chapter 9: North Wind Blows

"With Monkey King under your control, he will serve you well. The first service is for him to give you his Turtle Ball." Shunzang the Wise said, and Monkey King laughed nervously. "Funny thing... I don't have it. I loaned it to somebody. Odd little guy - showed up right after you left. He was looking for you. He wanted to fight you - I told him if he took the Turtle Ball, you'd seek _him _out. He gets rid of you, I take the Ball back, all is well!"

We all glared at him, and Monkey King groaned. "Oh no - you're going to make me fight him, aren't you? Oh alright, I'll take you to him. He's in a vortex not far from here."

"Someone's hunting you, Matt? Could it be the Armada? We'd better go deal with this!" Emma said. We returned to the _Santo Oro _with Monkey King in tow to set sail for the Vortex of Disruption.

We stood on the main deck, watching the men of the starboard watch work under the supervision of an officer, and Nikolai was saying to Monkey King, "Don't worry. Once we get the Turtle Ball, you can have a reward, like - I dunno, a big pile of bananas!"

"Oh, so I'm a monkey. That must mean I love bananas." Monkey King said sarcastically as he made an exaggerated show of scratching his armpits, and Nikolai asked, "So you don't like bananas?"

"Of course I love bananas! Don't be ridiculous. I just don't like hearing you say it." Monkey King grumbled, and I said, "Well, you're going to have to wait until we get to Skull Island if you want them. Bananas are bad luck aboard a ship, you know."

Anyway, we reached the Vortex of Disruption, where we tied ourselves down with rope as we passed through the walls of the vortex. A Monquistan galleon stood in the eye of the storm, and Emma looked at the deck through her spyglass. "Great, another treacherous Monkey."

Monkey King looked offended, but he didn't have time to start an argument before I cut in. "Can you make out a name on the bow, Emma?"

"She's called the _El Pretension Dos_." Emma answered as she put away her spyglass, and I drew my sword as I said, "So the Brass Monkey's managed to catch up with us. Fire as she bears! For the mainmast, lads!"

As the guns let out a screeching bellow, the cracks of rifles could be heard above from the fighting tops, picking off the motley crew of the _El Pretension Dos_, consisting of Dogs, Unicorns, Frogs, and of course, Monkeys.

As we fought, it was painfully obvious that the enemy crew wasn't very well trained, as we managed to let loose four broadsides of eight six-pounders before they could even fire once, and within the hour, the men began pulling her towards us with grappling hooks.

We boarded the _El Pretension Dos _and quickly overpowered the enemy crew topside, led by Count Brastillo de Brass, who was amusingly knocked out by a combination of Emma's shooting, Monkey King's shadow clones, and the fiddle of the boatswain's mate. Within a half hour, the ship was ours.

"Inconceivable! Does your treachery know no bounds?" Count Brastillo de Brass demanded of Monkey King. "Cheaters! Take your silly bauble! Know this... I will have my vengeance!"

"Oh, please!" Emma said, and with one good thump to the back of the head, the Brass Monkey was renamed to the Beat-Up Monkey. "We've got the Turtle Ball, Matt. Let's get back to Shunzang."

"Well done - I am glad to see Monkey King's trick failed. And now, in penance, Monkey King will go with you to recover the other Turtle Balls." Shunzang the Wise said as we stood in the Temple of Eternal Serenity. "You must go to the four Temples of the Winds. Start at the Temple of the North Wind, reached through the Ashen Roads."

An hour later, we set sail north to the Ashen Roads, where an ash-colored fog covered the land, and after splitting up, we stumbled around for a few minutes, until we all somehow ended up back at the docks.

"I didn't see any way to get through. You guys?" Emma said, and Nikolai shook his head as he added, "According to my scan spell, this isn't an ordinary fog, and unless you guys like going in circles, I suggest we don't try to go through it again."

"There used to be some monks who tended this place. Let's ask one of them. Monks always know things!" Monkey King said. With a clear objective in mind, we searched the clearer areas until we found an old Goat monk, hobbling with his staff.

"If you come seeking knowledge, you are too late. The Amber Horde has laid waste to this land, and destroyed the temple." The old Goat rasped. "If you wish to sift through the rubble, follow me to speak to the leader of my order, Brother Xian Bhi. He is with the town's survivors."

We followed the old Goat at his own pace until we reached a campsite, where Goats, Pigs, and Sheep were sitting outside their tents. I noticed that one little Pig's clothes were going ragged, so they must've been here for awhile with no cloth to make new clothes.

I paused for a moment to take off my blue jacket, folding it up to give to the little Pig, who smiled happily as he hurried back to his family. I turned to catch up with the others, who were speaking with a Goose. "What brings you to the Ashen Roads? Thanks to the Amber Horde, all that is left are broken dreams and shattered stones."


	10. Chapter 10: Gimme Shelter

"If you seek passage through the Fog to the Temple of the North Wind, you must first prove that you are an honorable soul." Brother Xian Bhi said. "The Amber Horde left the folk of the Ashen Roads homeless and without shelter. If they are to survive, they must find a refuge.

"There is an imperial garrison tower near here - it could shelter the people, but we do not know what has become of it, and the roads are unsafe. Could you go to the garrison tower and see if there is any threat there? Before we run to it, we must know if the enemy is within!"

We nodded as we turned to leave, and a few minutes later, we stopped at a particularly tall and sturdy-looking bamboo plant near the tower. Since I had the most experience climbing ratlines aboard a ship, I was elected to go up with my spyglass and scout out the tower.

As I reached the top, I brought my pre-extended spyglass up to my eye to scan the tower, and a few seconds later, I called down, "The tower's guarded by Samoorai ghosts! We'll have to report back!"

As I slid back down the bamboo pole, we returned to the camp to report back to Brother Xian Bhi, who said, "This is terrible! But there may be a way to help the dead and the living. The guards' imperial standard was taken by the Amber Horde - if you can get it back, they will find peace and the tower will be safe! Bring it to me once you have recovered it."

The three Horse barbarians whinnied as they galloped towards us on the ashen roads, armed with curved sabers and crossbows. Nikolai stood his ground as he took a stance. "Earthquake!"

As he struck the ground with his staff, pillars of earth began erupting forward from his position, and the barbarians were thrown off their hooves to be stunned by Emma's sniper rifle like they were clay pigeons.

"My turn!" I shouted as I leapt in with my sword in hand. As one barbarian began to get up, I covered my sword's blade in blue energy to blunt it as I slammed it into his back. Drawing my pistol, I then shot his nearby comrade in the face as the last one ran away in fear.

Nikolai snapped his fingers, and two broomsticks popped out of nowhere to float next to us, and we followed Nikolai's example of mounting them by swinging our left legs over the broomstick. "Hold on!"

As Nikolai kicked off the ground, I nearly fell off my broomstick as it jerked upwards, and we flew in an arrowhead formation high above the barbarian's head as he entered the Amber Horde camp. "Alright, I'm breaking our formation. Just point it the way you want to go, and lean to control your speed. Cover me while I snatch the standard!"

Emma and I nodded, and as Nikolai hurtled towards the standard in the center of the camp on his staff, we fired our guns to cover him as the barbarians were roused out of their tents. As Nikolai pulled the standard out of the ground, all crossbows were aimed at him instead, and through some miracle, he didn't get killed as he flew up into the air. "Meteor Strike!"

As fireballs the size of barrels rained down on the Amber Horde camp, Nikolai began flying as fast as he could, nearly crashing into us as he went. "Follow me!"

"Ah, the standard! I will purify it, and then you must place it inside the garrison tower." Brother Xian Bhi said, a bit after we returned to the camp. "Beware! The guards will resist you with all their strength. But if you fight with virtue, you will bring them honor and peace."

"We'll be about it." I answered, and as we walked to the garrison tower, Emma asked, "Can't we use the broomsticks again?"

"It's fifteen gold coins for one use. That's highway robbery, right there. I only bought them in case of emergency." Nikolai said, and we soon arrived at the garrison tower, where all of the Samoorai ghosts were waiting for us with their swords drawn.

Emma fired her first shot, taking out a ghostly warlord, and she ran to join me, her bayonet turning her sniper rifle into a makeshift spear, and Nikolai casted his spell. "Hybrid Spell: Wraith!"

As a black-cloaked Nikolai joined us in close quarters combat, I saw the words carved into the blade of his sword: Memento Mori. _Remember that you will die_.

As the blade made contact with the ghosts, they dissipated to fuel the glow black aura surrounding Nikolai's blade, and as we finished off the third quarter of the enemy, Nikolai let out a "KIAI!"

It probably would've sounded epic if it weren't for the fact that Nikolai's voice cracked, and Emma and I struggled not to laugh at the reminder of his puberty as a black arc of energy sliced through the remaining Samoorai ghosts. "Quick - plant the standard!"

Barging in through the tower's doors, I found a small patch of soft dirt where I shoved the pole of the standard down into. "It's done. Now the tower's safe for the villagers."

We returned to the camp, where Brother Xian Bhi bowed low to us. "You have done my people a great service. I will announce that the garrison tower is a sanctuary to the people."


	11. Chapter 11: Friendship in the Fog

"Throughout the Ashen Roads are three jade objects sacred to our order: an urn, a gong, and a statue. Find and return them." Brother Xian Bhi said, and I heard Nikolai mutter, "Great, another fetch quest. What's next, twenty bear asses?"

"You may be forced to resort to violence to recover these items." Brother Xian Bhi continued, having not heard Nikolai's words. "We refuse to do so... which is why we have not recovered them. If you can bring those objects back to this place, I will lay upon you a blessing that will let you pass through the magic fog."

I nodded as I turned to leave the camp. "Let's go, you guys. We have some things to find."

In the sickbay of the _Santo Oro_, Rena smiled, despite the dreary fog hanging outside the open gun ports, covering the mouths of the six-pounders in tiny water droplets. She had just finished sewing the sleeve of a new black coat to the main body, and she laid down her needle and thread onto her lap.

Most, if not all sailors could mend their own clothes, but Rena was especially good at it, having been mending her clothes back in Scrimshaw. In fact, she was planning to sew an entire set of clothes for his birthday present, and she was about three-quarters of the way done.

She then grimaced as she saw that one button on the waistcoat, which was black with golden hems. The round piece of metal never did seem to stay on the fabric, and as she picked up the needle and thread again, a voice said, "Here, let me have that. I can do up a seam, you know."

Rena turned to look at Bonnie Anne, who was lying in the hammock next to her. She hesitated for a moment, and then shook her head firmly. "No thank you. I want to do this myself."

"You know, just because you're now the captain of your own ship doesn't mean you have to do everything yourself." Bonnie said, and Rena considered her words for a long moment. Then she slowly held out the waistcoat, needle, and thread to Bonnie, who took them and began to skillfully sew the button firmly back onto the fabric.

"Thanks, Annie." Rena said, and Bonnie smiled as she lied back down in her hammock. "No need to thank me. That's what friends are for, right?"

"You have returned the most sacred objects taken from our temple. We despise vengeance, but you have shown honor in your soul." Brother Xian Bhi said, and I could hear Emma struggling not to laugh as she elbowed me gently from behind. "Good thing he doesn't know us that well, eh, Matt?"


	12. Chapter 12: This Little Pigsy

"Your service to our temple is appreciated. I now lay upon you a blessing that will allow you to pass through the magic fog." Brother Xian Bhi said. Making some gestures with his hands, our bodies were then covered with a golden glow that soon died out, though I didn't feel any different.

"The Temple of the North Wind was beset by the Amber Horde, protected only by a lone champion... the one called... Pigsy. The fog rose over their battle, and we have heard nothing from him since. There is no telling what you will find on the other side!"

Monkey King then spoke up. "Pigsy! I'm sure he's got them all sorted out! No worries... from here on out, it's all Turtle Balls!"

We thanked Brother Xian Bhi before returning to the fog, where I led the others in passing through the fog. We emerged unharmed onto the temple grounds, where a large staircase led up to a pavilion with a large, metal turtle statue sitting in the middle of a lotus-filled pond.

Walking up the stairs, we found a black-furred Pig smiling as he swept the floor of the pavilion, calmly stepping over the unconscious bodies of Amber Horde barbarians. He had a white fu manchu mustache and a goatee, and he wore a bamboo hat, blue robes, and a yellow scarf around his neck.

The Pig that could only be Pigsy bowed low to us as we stopped. "Greetings, strangers! You keep interesting company. With Monkey King in tow, I suspect you can only be after my Turtle Ball."

"So do you have it with you?" I asked, and Pigsy shook his head sadly as he brought an orb of jade. "Would that I could give it to you! When I heard the Amber Horde was coming, I sent it away... But my courier was captured. If you wish to recover my Turtle Ball, seek it in the ruined village. I am sure the Amber Horde has it in one of their halls."

"Ah, thank you, Pigsy-san... Hey, wait a minute!" I said, and everyone started laughing at my failure to realize that the orb of jade _was_ the Turtle Ball. Turning red, I tried to block out their laughter as I accepted the Turtle Ball from Pigsy.

Nikolai put a hand on the Turtle Ball, and said, "The Turtle Balls get more powerful as you reunite them. They'll pack quite a punch once all of them are together. In fact, I could use them as magical amplifiers."

"You seem to know a lot about this stuff. We'll keep them in your care." I said as I handed over the Turtle Ball, and as he handed over his, Monkey King said, "Gotta collect 'em all!"

Monkey King then turned a bit more serious. "I swore to Shunzang I would help you get the rest, and the next one is with Friar Sand in the Temple of the East Wind."

"So that's where we're going." Emma said, but Monkey King shook his head. "No. Not yet. We need to go to Raven Island. I need to see a bird about a pearl."

"What's this, some kind of trick?" I asked suspiciously, keeping a hand on the hilt of my sword, and Monkey King turned to face me. "You want the Turtle Ball, right? Trust me."

I kept to myself the thought that trust was a bit wasted on Monkey King, who turned to Pigsy. "Pigsy! Come with us! Let's set the skies on fire!"

Pigsy shook his head as he returned to sweeping the pavilion. "Would that I could, my friend. I have sworn an oath to protect the Temple of the North Wind. The old days are over - my place is here."

If anything, Monkey King looked a bit disappointed, but he didn't protest his old friend's decision, and we returned to the _Santo Oro _to set sail. Raven Island was a snowy place to the south of the skyway, and we bundled up as we stepped off the gangplank.

Monkey King led us to the door of the single house on the island, where he opened the door for us to see a Raven crone look up at us from stirring the brew inside her cauldron. "Monkey King! And I suppose you're after my pearl. Well, you can forget bargaining for it, you swindler!"

"Why doesn't anyone ever want to make another deal with me?" Monkey King wondered aloud, and everyone, including the Raven crone, glared at him. "Right then... Attack Karasu!"

Karasu grabbed a bottle from a shelf behind her, and she smashed it onto the floor, covering the room in black smoke. When it faded, Tengu goblins appeared all around us, as well as ninja Pigs, and Karasu's hands glowed green with sorcery.

Drawing our weapons, we began to fight Karasu and her followers. Emma blasted a ninja as it leapt for her with a _ninjato_ blade, and Monkey King batted away a Tengu goblin. A Ninja Pig blocked my sword strike, only to be stunned by my pistol, and Temeraire, who had been perched on my shoulder, started strangling a goblin with his long, snakelike body.

Karasu fired a blast of glowing green energy at Nikolai, who ducked as he hastily reached into his ditty bag. He brought out a crystal vial, and he scooped up some of the potion inside the cauldron to take a whiff of it. "Hmm... I see you're making a Everwinter Elixir. I presume you use it to provide a constant source for your ice magic?"

Karasu actually stopped to nod at Nikolai amidst all the fighting, and though I was kind of busy trying not to get my head lopped off, I could hear what Nikolai said next, "If you're skilled enough to make an Everwinter Elixir, then I assume you know what fire herbs, nitroshrooms, and scatterfish make."

"Black Powder Potion, of course." Karasu said triumphantly, and then her dark eyes widened in realization. "No, no, no, no! If you put those ingredients inside, the conflicting magical energies will make it-!"

"Explode? Yes, they will." Nikolai said as he brought out the ingredients with the most evil grin I've ever seen on a thirteen-year old. He dumped them all into the cauldron, and then it was his turn for his smile to fade as the brew glowed dangerously.

One moment, I was fighting a Ninja Pig and Tengu goblin at the same time, the next, I was being hurled back by an explosion into a large pile of snow, and not a second later, Emma crashed into me, with both of us in a daze.

"Ugh... Now that I think about it, that wasn't the _smartest_ idea I've ever had." Nikolai said, coughing as he emerged from the snow, his face covered in soot, and everyone still conscious shouted, "GEE, YOU THINK?!"

Monkey King brushed the snow off of him, and he hurried to the unconscious Karasu, where after a few seconds of searching, he brought out a large pearl the size of a stone.

Emma rolled off of me, and I walked to Monkey King's side. "You have your pearl. Now we have to get to Friar Sand."

Monkey King nodded as he stood up, putting the pearl into a pouch on his belt. "The only way is through a charming place known only as the Corrupted Shrine. I know, right?"


	13. Chapter 13: Not Even For You

As we walked into the courtyard of the Temple of the East Wind, a Goat monk approached to greet us, his wooden staff tapping on the stone tile as he walked. "Welcome, travelers. I am Wai Mi. What business do you have at the Temple of the East Wind?"

"We're here to see Friar Sand." I said, bowing respectfully, and the others followed my example as Wai Mi's eyes lit up. "You wish to speak to the most esteemed and venerated Friar Sand? Very good! He awaits you at the north landing out behind the temple."

Wai Mi's eyes then took a more ominous light, and I noticed him grip his staff tighter as he glanced at Monkey King next to me. "I must offer you a warning - Friar Sand is a powerful warrior, appointed to his duty by the Celestial Court! If you mean him or the temple any harm, any attempts at violence are ill-advised."

"Thank you for the warning." I said, bowing respectfully once again before heading off to the gates of the north landing. As we reached other the end of the pier, I could see someone meditating on a large, smooth rock out in the middle of the water.

As I got closer, I could see that it was an ogre with blueish-violet skin, a white beard like the crests of waves, white hair pulled back into a tightly-clubbed pigtail, and slightly yellowed tusks protruding out of his mouth. He wore a necklace of skulls over a turquoise monk's robe, and lying next to him was a monk's spade: a long metal pole with a flat spade-like blade on one end and a smaller crescent shaped blade on the other.

The ogre that could only be Friar Sand opened his dark eyes, and he got out of the lotus position to stand and pick up his weapon. "You have traveled far, across dangerous ground, to reach me. Why?"

"We need your Turtle Ball to reach Cao Tzu." I answered, bowing respectfully, but apparently, that didn't score me any points with Sandy, because he said, "I am afraid I cannot release my Turtle Ball to anyone. Especially anyone in the company of Monkey King!"

Friar Sand then turned to said Monkey, and he said, "You made me swear to protect it, and to resist you, more than anyone else, should you want it."

"It made sense at the time. Look, Sandy... let's talk..." Monkey King said in a diplomatic tone that was probably false, but Friar Sand cut him off as he pointed the larger blade of his monk's spade at Monkey King. "I cannot surrender the Turtle Ball willingly. If you think you can take it... you are welcome to try."

"But you know I am invincible when in or over water." Friar Sand continued, and seeing the surprised looks on our faces, he said, "Your friends, they didn't know, did they? Have you led them into a trap?"

Monkey King gave Friar Sand a smug smirk as he brought out the pearl he looted from Karasu on Raven Island earlier. "There's a trap here, all right. But you're the only one in it. When is water not liquid?"

Friar Sand's eyes widened as Monkey King tossed the pearl into the water, and as it disappeared beneath the surface, ice spread out to freeze the water solid from the point of contact. "NO!"

"Hah! I'm going to enjoy farming you!" Nikolai shouted as he brought out his staff. Temeraire slid down my back from my shoulders, and he snuck up on Friar Sand to jump him from behind.

From atop an ice pillar made by Nikolai's magic, Emma was trying to get a good shot at Friar Sand, and even though the water had been frozen, Friar Sand still made a fearsome opponent. As our weapons collided, I felt a jarring shiver run down my arms and spine, I instantly knew I wouldn't beat him through sheer force alone. Luckily, the pearl had also made snow atop the ice, so our footing wouldn't be too bad.

Monkey King was more able to block Friar Sand's ferocious strikes, and as he leapt back from another strike, Friar Sand tried to follow up with another attack only to see that his feet from the ankles up had been encased in ice, courtesy of Nikolai taking an opportunity when they locked weapons.

Emma took her shot as I leapt in, and Friar Sand took a blow to the stomach and an electrical burst to his arm at the same time. Temeraire then coiled around Friar Sand's neck, and began constricting him until he fell in the snow and was forced to tap out.

As Temeraire let go of him to be back at my side, Friar Sand sat up, rubbing his neck as he did so. "I should have expected such behavior from an ally of Monkey King. You won by trickery, but won you did."

Friar Sand then unhinged the lower jaw of one of his necklace's skulls, and nestled behind the teeth, I could see his Turtle Ball. "Here is my Turtle Ball. I have guarded it well until now. If you are gathering them, you must be summoning the great turtle. Such an action must only be undertaken with the best of intentions, so I will not hold your trickery against you."

"Thank you for your understanding." I said as I took the Turtle Ball from the skull's jaw, and Friar Sand continued, "Go and speak to Wai Mi, and he will tell you of the last two Turtle Balls."

We bowed respectfully before we left, and Wai Mi was waiting for us outside the gates to the north landing. "You have defeated the undefeated Friar Sand. You must be the mightiest of warriors... or you cheated."

All of us couldn't help but laugh, and still holding Friar Sand's Turtle Ball, I made a victory sign in the air.


	14. Chapter 14: This Little Prince

As we laughed, Wai Mi then noticed the Turtle Ball in my hand, and said, "If you are gathering the last two Turtle Balls, you must be going to see the Dragon Prince or heading to Hamakala Temple."

Monkey King suddenly stopped laughing to look at Wai Mi. "Hamakala Temple? That's where the last one is? No thanks!"

Wai Mi sighed as he turned to face the rest of us. "Young pirates, you could not have chosen a less reliable guide than Monkey King. His heart is good, but it is a wild heart. Go and speak to the Dragon Prince. You have gathered three Turtle Balls already, and I suspect he will surrender his gladly. The last I heard, he dwells within the Temple of the West Wind. You can reach it through the Paths of Penance."

"Thank you, Wai Mi." I said, bowing slightly. The others followed me back to the _Santo Oro_, where we began sailing west for the Paths of Penance, and an hour later, we dropped anchor at the pier, which led up to the icy paths of purgatory, or so it seemed.

Bundled up in my old short blue jacket, since I had given my coat to a villager of the Ashen Roads, I joined the others in walking up the snowy paths to the Temple of the West Wind. As we walked, my mind drifted off, and I began reminiscing.

My mother was the responsible parent in our family, and she taught me many of the things a member of the landed gentry should know, like art and literature. I can still remember her soft smile and sparkling blue eyes as she told me bedtime stories, where virtues of a rich gentleman went hand in hand with the adventures of a pirate captain.

_"And as the pirate swung his cutlass, the captain met it with his sword in a clash of steel, determined to win the heart of his lady."_ I heard Mom's voice in the distance, and I heard a five-year old me pipe up, _"And the captain beat the pirate by stabbing his - Stop, that tickles!_

As the giggles faded away, I thought about my father, who was the fun parent. Ever since I could hold one, he had taught me how to use a sword, and we used to go skylarking up in the rigging of the _Providence _whenever it was moored, playing tag a hundred feet up in the air.

He even took me to a brothel once on Skull Island, back when it was still a colony of Marleybone. I can still remember a five-year old me sipping juice from a straw on a comfy couch, surrounded by courtesans while my father went to do his business. Mother was not pleased.

It took a moment to realize that the crunching sounds of the others' footsteps in the snow had stopped, and I looked up to see that we faced a Dragon with white scales, dressed in black robes with red hems. "Greetings, strange voyagers. A 'hello' to Monkey King, your companion. What brings you to the Temple of the West Wind?"


	15. Chapter 15: Crimson Tide

As I opened my mouth to speak, Dragon Prince held up a hand to stop me. "I know - you have come for my Turtle Ball. This world is ephemeral, and I can see through it as if it were mist. Nothing is concealed from me. I'll give you my Turtle Ball if you recover three relics stolen from my father: the Robe of Calm, the Staff of Temperance, and the Begging Bowl of Humility. They were taken by the Crimson Lotus!"

"I'm sorry, who?" I asked, and Dragon Prince explained. "They are a band of evil monks who congregate within the Wai No Shrine. They will not surrender these relics, so you must be prepared to take them by force. Then you may have my Turtle Ball."

An hour later, aboard the _Santo Oro_, Emma and I were scouting out Wai No Shrine with our spyglasses. Everywhere I looked, I saw the monks were either meditating in the lotus position, or going about their daily business like working in the vegetable gardens. "They don't seem like crazed monks to me... What do you think, Emma?"

Emma shook her head as she lowered her spyglass, and Milo Graytail, a member of Rena's crew, walked up to us on the forecastle. "Your orders?"

I sighed as I put down my spyglass. "It doesn't look like they have any cannons, so we'll be entering the shrine with the longboats. I want all hands in this raid, but if they kill anyone, they can expect fifty lashes from Mr. Quentin's cat."

Milo nodded as he went away, and I wondered if a flogging would really be enough to deter some of the hardened pirates in the crew. Shaking my head to put the thought out of my mind, I leapt into the first longboat that hit the sky, soon followed by the members of Rena's crew. Followed by the others, we rowed towards the pier, where we drew our weapons as we swarmed into the shrine, awaiting my signal.

I took a deep breath as I shakily raised my pistol into the air to fire it and give the signal to start pillaging, and a Goose wearing red robes shouted, "No! Wai No Shrine is peaceful! What are you doing?"

"Despoilers! Ravagers! Agents of chaos! Lay down your weapons, or our Guardians will defeat you!" Another monk said angrily, with red Elephant-like _oni _appearing at his side.

"I've seen things you pirates wouldn't believe." One of the _oni _said, his dark eyes glittering with fire. "Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Aquila. I watched cannon fire glitter in the darkness near Valencia Stormgate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain."

Another monk, a Crane wearing a straw hat, stepped forward. "We are a peaceful monastery, given to meditation and quiet contemplation of the wonder of life. Why... why... are you attacking us?"

I then heard a murmur pass among the monks, and they made way for a Goat monk, presumably the leader of the Crimson Lotus monks. "Master Hong Bao..."

"What is the meaning of this unprovoked attack?" Master Hong Bao demanded, pointing the tip of a wooden staff at me, and I swallowed before I forced out the bitter-tasting words hanging on my tongue. "Dragon Prince said you stole three relics from his father."

Master Hong Bao's eyes widened. "Dragon Prince? Impossible! He was transformed into a Wind Horse, cursed by Lo Pan."


	16. Chapter 16: Oops!

Ah, realization comes like the welcome light of dawn. Lo Pan must have worn the shape of Dragon Prince and sent you! He has gone too far!" Master Hong Bao said as he saw our faces. "Lo Pan has sent violence into the world... it is his karma to receive it. Take back the Alabaster Horn Lo Pan used for his magic! Return to me when Lo Pan is punished."

"Let's go!" Emma said as she cracked her knuckles menacingly, and we returned to the _Santo Oro _to sail for the Paths of Penance. Walking up the snowy trail, we arrived at the courtyard of the Temple of the West Wind, where Dragon Prince, or rather, Lo Pan was waiting for us. "Where are my father's relics?"

Lo Pan was answered with a blast of energy that struck him in the stomach, and as Nikolai blew away the smoke coming from the bottom of his staff, Monkey King said, "The jig is up, Lo Pan! The monks of the Crimson Lotus send their regards!"

Lo Pan groaned as he stepped out from the smoke that covered him as his disguise fizzled out, and I saw that he was a demonic-looking Goat wearing a tall hat, and his hands glowed green as he stepped towards us, hooves clacking on the stone courtyard. "Who are these people, friends of yours? This really infuriates me to no end! Minions, finish them!"

Suddenly, the sides of the large clay pottery lying around began to break as skeletons emerged from them like hatching animals. Nikolai pointed his finger at Lo Pan and snapped them, creating a glowing white magic circle on the ground with both of them inside it. "Matt, take care of the small fries! This is a wizard's duel!"

As I parried a skeleton's sword, I saw that Lo Pan had made the first move in the wizard's duel. As a blast of green energy flew towards Nikolai, the thirteen-year old contemptuously flicked it away with the back of his hand as he aimed his staff. "Extraordinary Stormzilla!"

Knocking a skeleton's skull off his neck, I saw Lo Pan step backwards as a giant electric lizard like the one we had fought in the Valley of the Titans loomed over him, crushing little bits eggshell beneath its feet as it blasted him with a bolt of lightning from its mouth.

Lo Pan smirked as he got up from the Stormzilla's attack. "Now you only have one power pip for your spells! Wraith!"

A hooded wraith armed with a deadly-looking scythe then appeared in front of Nikolai, who didn't even flinch as he threw up a gray, translucent shield, which shattered as the wraith struck it. "Locust Swarm!"

A swarm of flying insects then emerged from the tip of Nikolai's staff, and Lo Pan was soon enveloped in the swarm, trying to swat them away. I had my own fight to deal with, of course, and I took on another skeleton. As it lunged towards me, I parried its strike before shooting him in between the eye sockets with my pistol.

I suddenly felt bony arms wrap around my neck, and I found myself being choked by another skeleton. A gunshot later, the skeleton's choke slackened, and I heard its bones clatter onto the stone courtyard. "Thanks, Emma!"

Emma grinned as she gave me a thumbs-up from atop the head of the giant, stone Ki-Rin statue in the center of the courtyard, and I saw Monkey King jab at a skeleton's skull with his golden staff, and Temeraire had eagerly lunged at a skeleton to tear it into individual bones with his fangs and claws.

As I ran to help them, something slammed into the stone next to me like a cannonball, and peering inside the resulting crater, I saw that it was Lo Pan's robes. Nikolai landed next to me, and I saw that he held a curved horn that was as white as snow. "We have the Alabaster Horn. We should return to Master Hong Bao."

"Let's be about it, then." I agreed, and we turned to head back for the _Santo Oro _and to Wai No Shrine, where Master Hong Bao was waiting for us. "The Wheel of Life has turned, and Lo Pan has paid the price for his evil ways. If you wish to earn Dragon Prince's esteem, you must first free him from his curse. Lo Pan turned him into a Wind Horse, a Ki-Rin."


	17. Chapter 17: Wild Horses

"To summon a Ki-Rin, you must offer laurel leaves, play the Harp of Harmony, and blow the Alabaster Horn, all at the Cloud Shrine." Master Hong Bao said. "Sadly, the Harp of Harmony was stolen from the Temple of the North Wind by the Amber Horde. It must be on one of their ships!"

"And as for the laurel leaves, I think I have some among my alchemy ingredients." Nikolai said as he looked inside his bag. "Yup, there they are!"

"The Cloud Shrine is in the Vale of Winds, a part of the Ravaged Valley. That place has suffered much hardship." Master Hong Bao said, pointing his staff across the skyway, and we turned to board the _Santo Oro_.

XOXOX OXOXO XOXOX OXOXO XOXOX

"Fire as she bears!" I shouted, and as we sailed past the oncoming Amber Horde ship like a jousting knight, the gun crews down below decks unleashed a broadside of eight guns while the swivel guns thinned out the barbarians with grapeshot.

Thanks to the efforts of the riflemen, led by Emma on the fighting tops, members of the barbarian crew were falling from the rigging down onto the deck, slowing down the enemy ship since she couldn't adjust her sails.

Heaving on the wheel, I turned the ship to starboard as the first boarding party armed themselves with axes, pikes, and swords, and as another broadside rang out, they leapt into the smoke to board the enemy ship.

The Amber Horde wasn't going to go down easy though, as several barbarians had managed to make their way across the sky between our ships to launch a preemptive attack on those pulling the enemy ship closer to us. "Repel boarders!"

Monkey King took on the boarders all by himself, and one by one, they were struck overboard by his golden staff, and we turned our attentions back to the enemy ship as the smoke from our cannons cleared.

The boarding party was holding out against the Amber Horde, but just barely, and already, a second led by Monkey King was coming to support them by attacking the barbarians' flank.

"Grenade!" I heard Emma shout, and she and the other riflemen had begun hurling the grenades amidst the Amber Horde, and they screamed as the explosives burst into shrapnel.

Thinned out as they were, the Horse barbarians stood no chance against the combined forces of the first, second, and third boarding parties, which I led. Grudgingly allowing himself to be tied with rope, the Amber Horde captain said that they were the ones who had the Harp of Harmony.

As the others went below to the hold to retrieve the harp, I offered the Horse barbarians two choices: to join my crew, or to be tied to the masts and wait for a rescuer that might not come. Most of them elected to join the _Santo Oro_'s crew.

As the men took their new shipmates back to the _Santo Oro_, Emma arrived with the Harp of Harmony, which was made of fragrant sandalwood and intricately carved. "Set course for the Ravaged Valley!"

XOXOX OXOXO XOXOX OXOXO XOXOX

"We've got the harp and horn, as well as the laurel leaves for the Ki-Rin. Let's do this thing!" Nikolai said as we stood inside the Vale of Winds, which was in a much better state than the rest of the Ravaged Valley, with long green grass and cherry blossoms blooming pink. As Nikolai set the laurel leaves down in front of the shrine, Monkey King strummed the Harp of Harmony while I blew the Alabaster Horn.

Suddenly, there was a loud cry, and Monkey King and I immediately stopped playing as a beast that looked like a white dragon/horse hybrid stepped out of the nearby bamboo. His white mane, beard, and tail crackled with electricity, and he pawed the ground as he swept his head to show off the long horn on his forehead.

"Whoa, there. I've got some nice, fresh laurel leaves for you..." Nikolai coaxed as he held out the leaves to the Ki-Rin, who gracefully stepped forward to eat out of Nikolai's hand as he stroked the side of his neck. "Good boy! Looks like I won't have to use my Rathalos great-sword after all!"

Monkey King stepped forward to speak. "Old friend. Remember your true form. Cast aside the shape of the Wind Horse and wear once more your former majesty."

As Nikolai stepped backwards, the Ki-Rin stood on his hind legs as he began to revert back to Dragon Prince, who groaned as the transformation's reversal was completed. "Monkey King! I had such dreams... thoughts of heaven and sky. What happened?"

"Try to remember, old friend." Monkey King said, and Dragon Prince stared up at the sky, thinking deeply for a few moments before he spoke. "I remember now... Lo Pan transformed me with his evil magic. I was Ki-Rin, but I am a Dragon once more."

Dragon Prince then removed an orb of jade from his sleeve, and he held it out to Monkey King. "Monkey King, if you are here, it must be for my Turtle Ball. Who am I to stand in your way? Here it is. Use it wisely."

Nikolai brought out the other three Turtle Balls, and Monkey King said, "Four... count 'em... four Turtle Balls! I'm on a roll! Let's get back to Shunzang. He'll tell us how to get the last!"


	18. Chapter 18: Hamakala Chameleon

"You have done much. Until now, only I had the wisdom and competence to gather so many Turtle Balls at once!" Shunzang the Wise said as we stood inside the Temple of Eternal Serenity in Subata. "Would that I could give you my Turtle Ball, but it was lost to me... somewhere too dangerous for even me to voyage! Only the last Turtle Ball eludes you, and that will be the most difficult to reach. You must venture to Hamakala Temple!"

Shunzang looked in disbelief at our blank faces, and he said, "You are not afraid? Hamakala! Evil demon god of the Ninja Pigs. What, you think that you can just go in and out of his temple like-"

"Like the wind, Shunzang. That's the plan. If we're not back by morning... summon the Emperor." Monkey King said, and Shunzang nodded as we turned to leave for the _Santo Oro_.

XOXOX OXOXO XOXOX OXOXO XOXOX

The doors to Hamakala Temple stood before us, with tall stone statues depicting demons to either side of it, and behind us was a cemetery filled with tombstones, probably for the victims of whatever lived inside the temple. It didn't give me any comfort to know that we'd be properly buried if we were killed.

I think that we could all feel the evil that seemed to seep out from the cracks of the doors, so strong that it might as well have "THIS PLACE IS EVIL!" written all over the doors in bright, colorful marker, although I suppose that would ruin the temple's atmosphere somewhat.

"Everyone ready?" I asked, and the others hesitantly nodded. Taking a deep breath, I put both my hands on the doors. "Then let's be about it."

Opening the doors was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be, and they made no noise as they moved, setting us more on edge as we stepped inside the eerily-lit temple. I took a glance behind me to see that the doors were silently closing behind Monkey King, who was guarding the rear, and I gulped as I faced forward to see a floating black robe, glowing purple eyes looking at us from beneath the hood.

"That is a very, very old evil right there. We've got to beat it." Nikolai said, and I glanced to see him grip his staff tightly. In the shadow of the six-armed Pig god and his weapons, bones flew from the darkness to assemble skeletons and the ghosts of _oni _rose out of the ground in a turquoise mist.

"Take no quarter, lads! And give none either!" I shouted as I drew my two swords, and we all leapt into the fray.

Temeraire was the first to strike, and a skeleton suddenly found his vision obscured as he coiled around his skull, determined to crush it. Monkey King cleaved through a ghostly _oni _with his golden staff, and Emma was taking aim at the ebon guardian ghost while one of Nikolai's magic circles glowed around her crouching body. "Tower Shield!"

As the Ebon Guardian threw orbs of darkness at her, a shield went up in front of her that blocked the attack and dropped as she pulled the trigger, managing to catch the ebon guardian's sleeve.

"Basilisk!" I heard Nikolai shout, and in the center of a glowing magic circle, stood a blue longboat-sized dragon with a yellow underbelly and three heads with golden eyes. Nikolai grinned as he pointed at the crowd of skeletons atop the middle head's long neck. "Get 'em, boy!"

The three heads of the Basilisk hissed as he charged towards the skeletons, throwing them up into the air to land on the hard, stone floor, scattering their bones all over the place.

I was left to face the Ebon Guardian by myself, and I readied my swords to charge. As tentacles made of darkness rose out of the shadows to wrap around my legs, I cut them down as I ran towards the Ebon Guardian. The Ebon Guardian began swirling around its hands to create an orb of darkness the size of a 42-pound cannonball that was launched towards me as I crossed my blades. "Valor's Fortress!"

A half-dome of translucent blue hexagons sprang up in front of me just in time to absorb the Ebon Guardian's attack, and as it shattered into pieces, I began to focus on positive memories that disappeared in my minds eye as quick as they had come.

Standing with Bonnie atop the topmost spar of the mainmast, looking at the chewed-up remains of Emmett's best dress hat, laughing at Jack's incredibly lame puns at dinner aboard the Aquila, watching Old Scratch brewing sweet-smelling healing potions, playing friendly games of dice with Ratbeard, listening to El Toro play his guitar, Rena's smile...

The screeching cry of the glowing blue eagle flying above us signaled reinforcements as the others were reenergized and healed of the minor wounds they had sustained, and I sheathed my left sword to draw my pistol. "It's time to break out the big guns!"

Drawing my pistol, I aimed it at the Ebon Guardian and pulled the trigger, firing a 42-pound cannonball made of blue energy that glowed as it spiraled towards the Ebon Guardian.

The Ebon Guardian let out an unearthly wail as it was defeated, and as it disappeared, the other guardians of the temple either collapsed into bones or disappeared in the case of the ghostly _oni_.

"The Turtle Ball should be in that chest at the feet of the statue. Get it before this place poisons our souls!" Nikolai cried, and I nodded as I ran to the stone chest at the feet of Hamakala's statue. Levering the lid open with my sword, I found the Turtle Ball lying inside. "Alright! Now let's get back to Shunzang!"


	19. Chapter 19: Hushed as the Wood

"You've done it!" Shunzang the Wise said as we stood in the Temple of Eternal Serenity, having returned from Hamakala Temple. "Such a power you now possess... more than enough to call the Great Turtle and the Celestial Shrine! Below us, a bridge leads to a tiny isle, the Eye of Harmony. Go there, throw the Turtle Balls from the edge... Turtle time!"

"There is little else I can say that will guide you. Be respectful to Cao Tzu, and he will help you translate Marco Pollo's map." Shunzang said, and I nodded as I bowed respectfully to him. "Thank you for all your help, Shunzang, but now we must be off."

Monkey King led us to the Eye of Harmony, a small islet about thirty feet in diameter, with two stone obelisks near the left and right edges. With the Turtle Balls in hand, Monkey King tossed them over the other side of the islet and into the sky. "The Turtle Balls are away!"

We stood there for a minute, and I was beginning to wonder if the Turtle Balls were real when I saw the tops of buildings emerging from the pearl-like clouds, followed by their bases and the plant-covered shell of one giant turtle, who looked directly at us with an affably bleary face, and Monkey King said, "Behold, Maruzame Temple!"

The longer I looked at the great turtle's face, the more sleepy I felt, and before I knew what I was doing, I had already fallen asleep on the Eye of Harmony's soft grass.

XOXOX OXOXO XOXOX OXOXO XOXOX

Some time later, I awoke, and I sat up to look around for my companions, but they seemed to have all gone. As I faced forward again, I saw a Crane wearing a straw hat and orange robes looking down at me. I hurriedly scrambled up to my feet, and the Crane bowed politely. "Greetings and welcome to Maruzame. I am Brother Lian, a disciple of Cao Tzu."

"My name is Matthew Exeter. Have you seen my friends? They were on the Eye of Harmony with me, and-" I began, but Brother Lian held up a hand to stop me, and gestured for me to follow him.

As we walked on the sandy path, I remained silent as he spoke. "You have done much to come here. This is admirable. But evil-doers are just as wily as the pure of heart. You face a test before seeing Cao Tzu. You must face the five champions in battle: the Elemental Guardians of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water."

"Each Guardian holds a key to the temple of the next. You must defeat them in sequence to proceed. If Heaven smiles upon you and you are victorious, you may then speak to Cao Tzu and his wisdom will be yours." Brother Lian then stopped in front of a very thick tree, and I looked up to see that it was one of the tallest trees I've ever laid eyes upon.

As cherry blossom petals fell from its branches, I looked closely to see the cracks in the tree's bark glowing and pulsating with green energy. I laid a hand on its bark, and feeling it rumble with power, I drew back to see two sections of the tree slide apart with a grating sound. The inside of the tree was hollow and made of heartwood, and I stepped inside to see a set of stairs winding up inside the tree like a vine.

By the time I reached the top of the stairs, my feet were hurting and there in front of me was a living tree. The Wood Guardian was long and lanky, with tree bark for skin, and the branches growing from his head had cherry blossom petal falling down from them.

Catching the last of my breath, I drew my two swords as the Wood Guardian lumbered towards me, no pun intended. As I slashed across the Wood Guardian's chest, bits of bark flew as sap trickled slowly down his body, but he didn't even seem to notice as he drew his fist back for a punch.

The wind was knocked out of me as I was sent flying backwards, and I struggled to get up as the Wood Guardian approached me slowly. He was strong but slow in moving, so I wanted to win, I had to use it to my advantage. I glanced down at my belt to see the powder charges I used for reloading my pistol, and an idea began to form.

Sheathing my swords, I drew my pistol and began to load it. Priming the gun with a sprinkle of gunpowder, I poured the rest of the first cartridge's contents down the barrel before stuffing the crumpled-up paper cartridge and the bullet after it. With my gun at half-cock to avoid firing it prematurely, I grabbed the rest of the cartridges and hurled them into the thick pink-covered branches on the guardian's head.

Now that the powder was in position, I cocked the gun back fully and aimed carefully, holding my breath as I moved backwards to avoid the Wood Guardian's flailing fists. I pulled the trigger, and the burst of electricity flew and struck a powder cartridge nestled just above the Wood Guardian's face. A second later, it exploded, setting the Wood Guardian on fire as the other cartridges exploded as well.

The Wood Guardian roared in pain as he lumbered towards me for one last attack, but before he could punch me, a loud groaning and crackling sound could be heard as he fell at my feet like a tree being cut down. As the flames died down, I sheathed my weapons, but as I did so, the badly-scorched guardian looked like he was getting his second wind.

I nervously drew my swords again as the Wood Guardian towered over me, but he smiled as he reached into the branches above his head, which were now mostly removed of their blossoms, and I saw the key, which looked like it was made of molten lava.

"Your battle style shows growth and resilience. You may proceed to the Temple of Fire." The Wood Guardian said as he handed me the key, which was warm in my hand as I put in my pocket. "Thank you."


	20. Chapter 20: Fierce as the Flame

The Fire Temple was up the hill from the tree-like Wood Temple, and it looked like it was made of volcanic rock, with a fire sigil carved into the double doors leading inside. Smoke rose from out of an opening in the roof, and as I stepped forward, the doors opened to make way for me.

As the doors closed behind me, I was left alone in the dark, sweating from the heat that seemed to come up from the floor. Suddenly, light dazzled my eyes, and I saw that I was in a hexagonal room, with braziers filled with glowing coals lit at every corner. The floor was made of volcanic rock, with red energy pulsing and giving off heat in the cracks.

In the center of the room stood the Fire Guardian, who looked like a shattered Elephant statue made of volcanic rock that had been glued back together with lava, except that his tusks were actual ivory, with the right one's tip made of metal, for some reason.

The Fire Guardian wore red armor on his arms and lower body, with spikes on the shoulders, and he wielded a sword that looked like it had come out of the blacksmith without being cooled down in water. As he saw me, he bellowed, "Do you have the power to attain the Earth Key? Then you must endure my flame!"

Drawing my two swords, I ran towards the Fire Guardian as he raised his blade, and just as he brought it down, I stepped to the side to dodge as I lunged forward with my left, grazing his ribs as I slipped underneath his arm. We both turned around at the same time, and the ground shook slightly as the Fire Guardian charged towards me with his trunk.

I was sent flying to my right as I was smacked with his thick trunk, and as I got up, the Fire Guardian was lumbering towards me. The heat wasn't helping me to regain my breath, and I clumsily ducked beneath the swipe of his sword. I lunged with my right into his thigh, and he roared in pain as he reared his sword high up into the air.

Gritting my teeth, I crossed my blades above my head to block the Fire Guardian's fierce downwards stroke, and the force of impact made my arms shudder dangerously as his sword began to slowly descend closer to my head. I gritted my teeth as I struggled to keep my swords locked together, and with a great effort, I dug my toes into the ground as I pushed away his blade, sending him stumbling backwards as I rushed forward.

I lost myself to the art of battle, and split seconds passed between each of my strikes as I spun, swirled, and twirled into each attack. Sensing a change, I leapt backwards just in time to avoid the Fire Guardian's left hook, and rushed in again as he drew his fist back, delivering even more strikes.

_"Alright, this is it! The final blow!" _I thought to myself, and I lunged forward with my right, but the Fire Guardian managed to grab the blade with his molten fist as he drew his sword back. The adrenaline coursing through my veins didn't give me any time to be afraid, and my left was brought forward into the Fire Guardian's chest.

The Fire Guardian's sword halted in its path, and he used his meaty right hand to pluck the sword from his chest like it was nothing. He then stepped backwards, and sheathing his sword, he bowed. "You fought with fierceness and speed. You may proceed to the Earth Temple."

The Fire Guardian then reached for his right tusk, and I saw something that I hadn't noticed before: hinges. He reached into the hollow of his ivory tusk to pull out a skeleton key that looked like it was carved from stone, and he put it into my hand.

"Thank you." I said as I bowed, and I turned towards the entrance to leave. The next stop was the Earth Temple up the shell of Maruzame, which was built from stone, and its doors towered impressively over me as I passed in between two clay soldiers. "Let's rock."


	21. Chapter 21: Stalwart as the Mountain

Pushing the key into the keyhole, I twisted the key to unlock the doors, and it crumbled away as the doors opened with a grating noise, allowing me to step inside. As soon as my back foot was over the threshold, I heard the doors close behind me, leaving me alone in the darkness. Suddenly, the lanterns were lit all at the same time, dazzling my eyes, and as I regained my focus, I found myself in a hexagonal room filled with boulders and stalagmites emerging from the cobblestone floor.

In the center of the room stood a Bull that looked like he was made of earth baked a dark brown rather than flesh and blood, but his golden eyes were definitely alive. He looked like a samoorai right down to the lacquered stone armor, except for the spike-covered mace, also known as a morning star, that he held his right hand.

I drew my swords and crouched slightly, ready for his attack, and then the Earth Guardian spoke in a gravelly voice, like he had been gargling pebbles. "You wish to unlock the Temple of Metal, young one?"

I nodded slowly, and the Earth Guardian asked, "Can you fight the mountains? Will you conquer stone?"

"Maybe. Let's find out." I said as I readied myself, and I made the first move as I ran towards him. The Earth Guardian braced himself as I lunged, embedding my blade in his armor, but apparently, it didn't penetrate all the way, as he easily grabbed me with his left and threw me into a nearby stalagmite. I wasn't prepared for the sudden painful shock my spine felt as my back crashed into the hard stone, and I didn't think I could get up.

The Earth Guardian plucked out my sword embedded his armor, and had tossed it to the side as he lifted his morning star high up into the air before me. "Valor's... Fortress..."

I winced as a wall of blue translucent hexagons was thrown up between us, and the Earth Guardian's morning star was thrown back as the wall shattered in pieces. "Reinforce..."

I looked down at my hand to see that a blue glow that covered it, as well as the rest of my body, and feeling reenergized, I shakily stood up, sword in hand. "Time... for the... big guns..."

I drew my pistol, and as I aimed it at the Earth Guardian and pulled the trigger, a cannonball of blue energy spiraling at high speeds rocketed out of the mouth of the barrel.

The Earth Guardian grunted as he was struck by my attack, and he drew his morning star back for another strike. Pushing off the ground, I managed to avoid a stalagmite-shattering blow just in time, and I scrambled towards my other sword, lying on the ground.

Picking it up, I stood to face the Earth Guardian, who charged like a bull as he raised his morning star. Gritting my teeth, I cross my swords above my head, and steel clanged against stone as the morning star hovered dangerously above my head. "Reinforce!"

In a sudden burst of strength, I pushed the morning star away, sending the Earth Guardian stumbling backwards as the blue glow around me faded. Already, I was rushing towards him to get a few hits in, and as the Earth Guardian swung his morning star, I threw up a Valor's Shield to block it.

The Earth Guardian recovered quickly, and he stomped on the ground like a sumo wrestler I had once seen in Hamamitsu during my days aboard my uncle's merchant vessel. Gathering up his energy, he slammed his foot onto the cobblestone, causing a wall of earth to erupt towards me.

Turning to run away, I vaulted onto a nearby boulder in hope that it would protect me, but it was instead hurled into the air, taking me with it. As I began to fall rapidly towards the ground, I could see the Earth Guardian preparing to strike with his morning star on the ground. Gritting my teeth, I threw up another Valor's Shield, and I could hear the air rushing past the half-dome made of blue translucent hexagons.

The Valor's Shield crashed into the Earth Guardian, and in the cloud of dust that formed, I stabbed the left side of his breastplate, weakened by the Big Guns and now crumbling away like dirt as I withdrew my blade. I backed away slowly as the Earth Guardian rose, he spoke in his gravelly voice. "Never before have I met a warrior so steadfast, so unyielding. The Metal Temple is open to you."

The Earth Guardian then switched hands between the morning star, and in his now empty right hand was a key made of steel. I nodded as I took the key and bowed. "Thank you."

My next challenge, the Metal Guardian awaited me atop the next hill, and his home, the Metal Temple, looked like any other temple I had seen in MooShu, except that it was made of steel, and an engraving of a metal bar was on the set of double doors leading inside.

I brought out the key the Earth Guardian had gave me, and with a twisting motion, the doors were open and I stepped inside, letting the doors close and the darkness envelop me.


	22. Chapter 22: The Riddle of Steel

As the lanterns were lit, I could see a round arena, raised above the floor of the hexagonal room and fenced off with tall metal spears, save at the top of the steps leading up to the arena, where the Metal Guardian stood with his katana drawn.

The Metal Guardian wore lacquered armor made of tempered steel, a fluttering banner mounted on a pole behind his back, and underneath his helmet, was a golden, demonic-looking Bull mask that looked down on me as I stepped into the arena. "So you would seek the key of water? First, you must solve the Riddle of Steel."

I blinked. Well, that was a surprise. Rena would probably have an easier time with this, seeing as how she's read every piece of fiction in her mother's shop, but she wasn't here now, so I had to step up to the challenge in her stead. "Alright then, let's be about it."

The Metal Guardian nodded as he took a deep, quiet breath. The tension grew the longer he paused, and then he finally spoke. "What is the true strength of steel?"

The most obvious answer was that it was harder than iron, but I suspected that wasn't the answer, and without much hope, I drew my sword and stared at its blade in hope of an answer.

In the blade of my sword, sixteen-year old boy with dark hair stared back at me with blue eyes before smiling, and somehow, my reflection turned into an image of a sea battle. I recognized the shape of a Royal Navy ship sailing towards a line of Polarian ships, and as it broke the Polarian line-of-battle, I saw the name of the ship on the stern: Victory.

I realized that I was seeing the Battle of Trafalgar, the decisive naval battle of the Polarian Wars, where Admiral Horatio Nelson led twenty-seven ships-of-the-line against a Polarian fleet of thirty-three, and won. The answer to the riddle of steel then hit me harder than any cannonball, and the Metal Guardian asked, "Do you have an answer?"

I nodded as I took a deep breath to steady myself. "The true strength of steel is in the hand that wields it - or in other words, it's the person's determination that brings success, not the quality or amount of his tools."

The Metal Guardian nodded as he readied his sword. "That is wise. A warrior's true strength is found inside himself, not in his blade, but I trust you've practiced your strikes. Draw your sword!"

Steel clashed against steel in this duel, and I ducked to avoid a horizontal slash from the Metal Guardian before lunging forward, only to be batted away by his sword. I turned around just in time to deflect his blade over my shoulder before kicking him in the chest, sending him stumbling back a few steps, but he recovered quickly in time for my next attack.

Our toes tried to dig into the floor as we struggled against each other with locked blades, but I lost that contest of brute strength, sending me sprawling onto the floor. As the Metal Guardian raised his sword, I rolled to the right just in time to avoid the sharp tip and get up to lunge at his exposed side.

This time, my attack was successful, but I only managed to make a dent before the Metal Guardian spun to attack me with his sword, narrowly missing my foot by a centimeter as I hopped back, drawing my pistol. "Time for the big guns!"

My attack crashed directly into the Metal Guardian's chest, and I rushed forward to attack, blades glowing with blue energy, the safety version modified to retain the swords' sharpness. Backhanded slashes cross the lacquered metal of his breastplate, and I reversed my grip on my swords.

Two slashes later, I had already switched between grips again to stab the Metal Guardian's chest twice, and I felt a tension on the tips of my blades disappear as the Metal Guardian spoke. "I have never met my equal before today. You showed suppleness and strength in equal measure. You may enter the Water Temple."

I withdrew my blades from the Metal Guardian's breastplate, and he removed the punctured front to reveal that he was hollow inside, but a key made of a blueish ice hung from a string. I sheathed my swords to bring out a knife, and the string cut easily as the cold key fell into my hands.

Turning around to leave, the bright sunlight dazzled my eyes as I stepped outside, and the Water Temple, as mighty as any natural glacier, awaited me on the next hill.


	23. Chapter 23: Swift as the River's End

I put a hand on the cold ice that made the double doors of the Water Temple, and I could see a wave symbol carved into the frozen water, with the keyhole in the curl of the blue wave.

As I brought out the key and unlocked the doors, the key shattered into pieces as the doors slid open, and I stepped inside to see the interior of the Water Temple.

Sunlight was allowed to pass through the ice that the Water Temple was built from, and in the center of the room was a giant pool of water that reached up to my ankles.

As I stepped into the water, the water on the far end of the pool rose in a pillar to take the shape of the Water Guardian. His scaly skin was the color of the sky, and fins on the side of his face shook to cast off water as he slithered towards me on a snake's tail. "You have fought well, but I have rotted wood, quenched flame, leveled mountain, and pitted iron. How will you face me?"

"You'll see." I said as I drew my swords, and we began our battle. As I slashed at the Water Guardian, he leaned smoothly backwards, and he lunged at me with his golden staff the same color as his armor, striking my chest and knocking the wind out of me.

I barely managed to clumsily parry his next attack, but the Water Guardian was as swift as a river, with each attack flowing naturally into the next, and every parry only a tiny pebble of disturbance in the stream. "To succeed in battle, one must be fluid, moving around obstacles, enveloping your foes."

"I see..." I said. It was a bit difficult for me, with the hem of my trousers waterlogged and heavy, not to mention that the water gave my feet a little less freedom of movement than I'd like, but I took a deep breath and tried to go with the flow of battle.

The sounds of steel clanging against steel slowly disappeared from my mind, almost as if it didn't exist as I focused on parrying and striking. The pace increase as we tried to break through the other's defense, and I could hardly see anything beyond the blur of steel and gold in front of me.

Finally, I sensed a disturbance in the Water Guardian's flow as he parried one of my swords, and I brought the other one forward into the left side of his golden breastplate.

Swiftly withdrawing the blade, I backed away as water poured profusely from the resulting hole like a waterfall, but the Water Guardian seemed unconcerned as he spoke. "You have earned passage to the Celestial Shrine, atop the mountain. Go to the village, where you will find the golden ladder. And uh, please take a bath. You're covered in ash and dirt."

XOXOX OXOXO XOXOX OXOXO XOXOX

One freezing cold, yet strangely refreshing bath in the Water Temple later, I walked to the bottom of the ladder behind the temple, made with golden bamboo. Unlike the companionways and ladders of the _Aquila _or any other ship I had been aboard, it didn't creak as I climbed up to near the peak of a small mountain.

After five straight battles in a row, the short trek up the mountain was absolutely _painful _for me, and by the time I reached the Celestial Shrine, I collapsed unceremoniously at the feet of an thin elderly Bull wearing blue-and-gold robes sitting on his knees while fanning himself. "How do you say water in MooShu?"

"_Shui_." The elderly Bull said kindly, and as I looked up at him, I said, "I need some _shui_."

The elderly Bull didn't have any water, but was kind enough to pour me some iced tea, which I gulped down gratefully as I stood up to bow. "Greetings, sir. My name is Matthew Exeter."

The elderly Bull nodded as he nodded his head. "Greetings as well. I am Cao Tzu, your humble servant. May I shine a light on the darkness of your existence?"

"Please do." I said as I sat down on my knees, and Cao Tzu spoke. "You bear with you pieces of Marco Pollo's map. He was once my student, and learned much within the Celestial Shrine."

"Chief among his studies was astrology: the movement of stars through the heavens, and the alignment of the worlds of the Spiral. His map contains a secret: symbols revealing the path to Shangri-La, city of the immortals. Pollo called it El Dorado."

"I will teach you how to read the symbols and decipher my student's map. They reveal where and when the next gate to Shangri-La will open. But you must have all the tables to make such a prediction. You need all of the pieces of the map to find Shangri-La."

Cao Tzu then gazed all around us, and I followed his gaze, seeing that the great turtle Maruzame was swimming through the skyway. "I see much from my vantage point in the Celestial Shrine: I know that the Armada has two pieces of the map, and you also two. Three pieces are yet to be accounted for, but one will come to light soon. Your friend, with the bird, has news for you."

"Every quest has an end, and yours is some distance off. But for now, you must return to where it began." Cao Tzu said, turning his face to mine, and I thought about it for a moment before I realized it. _Skull Island..._


End file.
